Transformers: Prometheus
by Matt Thorne
Summary: The war between the Autobots and Decepticons has been going on for 4 million years, ravaging their homeworld of Cybertron, now forcing them to stretch out to other worlds.
1. New Horizons

Transformers: Prometheus

Chapter 1: New Horizons

The war had been going on for four million years, leaving the planet of Cybertron ravaged. Once a sparkling golden paradise rich with power, it had been reduced to a grey metallic landscape blanketed in an endless night. With resources dwindling, it seemed the war would either end without a victor, or start spreading to other worlds.

In the city of Iacon, several Transformers, gargantuan inhabitants of Cybertron, were gathered around monitors, taking in information, sifting through the codes and data, trying to anticipate what their enemies would do next. A hiss came from a door as it opened up and a giant among giants entered the room. A red and blue commander followed by his right hand man. The others, all noticing his entrance, turned to greet him, the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime. He turned and spoke to his men in a commanding, yet somehow calm and friendly voice. "Ratchet, Wheeljack. Have you made any progress?" The language he spoke was complex and mechanical. Something not heard on Earth.

The mechanic, Wheeljack, stood to answer. "Well, Prime, the probe we sent out has located a potential planet closer than we anticipated." He turned around, punching a few keys bringing up a map of neighboring stars and planets. "As you can see, Cybertron lies within the Rigil Kentaurus system, and over here is the Sol system. Our probe determined that, even though its very basis is substantially different from Cybertron, the third planet from this star does contain sources of energy that could potentially be used to create Energon Cubes, the same way we did with Energon Crystals here."

Prime brought his hand to his armor plated chin and thought for a moment. "Are there any inhabitants?"

"Well, we did find these small and soft things."

The Autobot medic, Ratchet, stood up to explain. "Small and soft they may be, but they still have built cities and many great structures. I believe, although physically different than us, their minds and ingenuity are capable of just as much as ours."

Wheeljack huffed at the suggestion. "Well, they're not stupid, but I wouldn't go that far."

Before either of the officers could start arguing, Optimus Prime spoke again. "If there are indeed intelligent creatures living there, then we should try not to interfere in their affairs. All life is precious, and freedom is the right of all sentient beings. However, Megatron will not have such reservations. He will take his Decepticons and pilfer this new world of its resources and destroy anything that gets in his way. For the sake of the beings who live there, we must stop Megatron. This war has gone on long enough."

The black and white robot, Jazz, standing beside Optimus then spoke up. "You got that right, Prime. Personally, I can't wait to kick back a bit and have a few Energon drinks at the Cyber Cafe."

Prime turned to another Autobot. This one was small with orange armor over his purple metal skin. "Huffer, do you have the designs completed yet?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't easy," the little robot said as he spun around in his chair. "Frankly, I don't know if we're even going to get out of the system in it."

"Don't listen to him," Wheeljack said, sighing at Huffer's pessimism. "I looked over the designs with him myself. Construction is ready to begin immediately."

"Good," Prime said, somewhat elated. "We need to get ready for takeoff at any given moment."

Despite his sigh of relief, Optimus was unaware that he was being watched that very moment. A black birdlike figure was high above the Autobots, looking down through a hole in the ceiling, transmitting their every move back to a barren area of Cybertron, wherein all that was just said was being monitored by the cruel leader of the Decepticons, Megatron. His unwavering stare passed from blood red eyes over the monitors. A white and red Decepticon stood behind him, smirking at the very fact that gaining intelligence had been so easy.

Megatron stood and spoke in a scratchy mechanical voice. "So, the Autobots have found this planet, too. I suspected they would."

"Of course they would!" the other Decepticon interrupted. "They need energy the same as us, and that planet is ripe with it."

"Watch your tone, Starscream." Megatron huffed, giving a sneer at his subordinate.

"Megatron, we must strike at the Autobots now, before they get a chance to launch. If we cripple them now, we can go to this new planet, take what we need, and then come back to obliterate them all."

"You're an idiot, Starscream," Megatron bellowed. "We need not concern ourselves with them. Construction on their ship is merely beginning, while the Nemesis is nearly complete. We can get to the new planet before them, and then gather enough energy. Even if they interfere, disposing of them will be simple once we gather the resources we need." He then turned to a large blue Decepticon controlling the communications frequencies that the spy was using. "Soundwave, bring Buzzsaw back in. We must make immediate plans for departure. Starscream, inform Thundercracker and Skywarp of the situation."

Soundwave nodded. "Yes, mighty Megatron."

Starscream repeated him, mocking the astute communications officer. Soundwave merely replied to the insult with a cold stare that Starscream simply smirked at.

As this was happening, on Earth, there was a room filled with computers and machinery, and two people monitoring them. One was a brown haired man with glasses in a wheelchair, the other a tall blond woman. Both looked fairly young, fresh out of collage.

"Say, Maggie?" the man said, trying to get her attention. "Take a look at this."

The woman sighed. "Is this about that satellite you're convinced you detected?" She spoke in an Australian accent. "I'm telling you, Chip, it was just a computer glitch or something."

"Oh yeah?" he said smugly. "Then how come I got another reading of it just now?"

"Umm… another glitch, perhaps?" Maggie replied mockingly.

"Thought you'd say that. Then check this out. I detected it early enough to make a satellite photo this time." As he said this, the computer printed out an image of what the man was convinced he saw. He held it up to his skeptical partner. The picture was of a strange mechanical device leaving the atmosphere.

The woman took the picture and stared at it, confused. "What is that? It doesn't look like anything the United States put up there."

"Of course not. Because nobody 'put it up there'. That thing came from outer space, then left again." Chip shuffled through his records from the last few weeks. "I'm telling you, it's the same thing I detected entering the atmosphere last week."

"Chip, you're not suggesting that thing came from outer space? I mean honestly, your theories are bad enough…"

"They're a little more than just theories, now, Maggie." Chip smiled as he snatched back the picture and stared at the design. "You know, you ought to be a little more open minded if you wanted to work with the Space Surveillance Network." Chips gaze then suddenly changed. It grew more serious in an instant.

"Wh-what's wrong?" Maggie said, showing concern.

"I think… I see some kind of symbol." Chip stared at the symbol he thought he saw. It was the same symbol emblazoned upon the Autobots on Cybertron.

Back in Iacon, construction of the massive space shuttle was already well underway. Jazz supervised as Wheeljack, Huffer, and a host of others welded the metal frame together. A small green and yellow Autobot turned to Wheeljack. "Hey, Wheeljack, how much longer is this going to take. I'm a fighter, not a welder."

"Take it easy, Brawn. You're getting as bad as Huffer."

A little yellow Autobot chuckled, as he continued his work. His name was Bumblebee. "Hey, Wheeljack," he said, "try not to say that too loud or you'll give Huffer something else to complain about."

"I heard that!" Huffer yelled from across the work area. Bumblebee and Brawn both laughed.

"C'mon, guys," Jazz shouted to the crew. "Optimus Prime wants this shuttle completed ASAP."

"No kidding," replied Trailbreaker, a large black Autobot. "If the Decepticons get to the resources on this planet before we do, they'll kill everything and take what they need to kill us, too. But at least there's one bright side if that happens."

Ironhide, a gruff red plated Autobot immediately shut off his welding torch after hearing this. "And what, may I ask, could be the bright side of getting killed be?"

"Well, we wouldn't have to listen to Huffer complain anymore."

"Oh, shut up!" Huffer shouted.

Ironhide merely shook his head and went back to work.

Back on Earth, the following night, Chip Chase, the man convinced of what he saw in the satellite image, received a phone call. He picked up the receiver. It was his coworker, Maggie Madsen.

"Alright, Chip, I hope you appreciate this. I had to call in a personal favor to confirm this."

Chip chuckled. "You had to do that because you couldn't find a match for that symbol anywhere, either. I enhanced the photo and looked myself. It's obviously some kind of marking, put there intentionally, yet it exists nowhere on Earth."

"Okay," Maggie sighed, knowing her common sense what at its end. "I admit that it's weird. Have you told Ron about it yet?"

"Not yet. I'll show him when I see him at work tomorrow. He probably wouldn't believe me without seeing it, anyway."

Little did the two know, that while their conversation was going on, the probe had re-entered Cybertronian airspace and reached its return destination of Iacon.

"The probe's back," Ratchet informed Optimus Prime.

"Good. Does it have the scan of local machines?"

"Indeed it does." Ratchet them punched a few keys bringing up several holographic images of various cars and trucks. "There are enough here for everybody to pick a different alternate form. This way we can blend in with the local culture. We can search for the Decepticons without making a show of ourselves to the locals."

"Yes," Optimus nodded, "But I fear with Megatron involved, we won't be able to stay in disguise for long. How long until construction of the Ark is completed?"

"Everybody's working at full capacity as it is. It shouldn't be much more than one or two dozen megacycles."

"Alright. As soon as it's ready I want all the crew member who are going to scan in Earth forms and prepare for departure. I think I'll take mine now."

Optimus Prime then looked up at one of the holograms. A flat fronted freightliner tractor trailer. A beam shot from his eyes as his robotic body took in the technical specifications of the vehicle. He glowed as parts shifted inside him, locking together, transforming him into something else. When the beam stopped and the glow subsided, the Autobot commander was somewhat different than he was before. Then, in a purely mechanical act, his body folded together, falling downward, as he transformed into the truck he had just scanned.

"This should do nicely," Prime said, satisfied at his new form. Then as quickly as he changed, he heaved upward and changed back to his humanoid robotic form.

The following day, Ron Witwicky stared at the image Chip had just handed to him. His lips trembled a little before finally asking "Who else have you shown this to?"

"Just Maggie. I think she showed it to someone else. Confirmed the symbol doesn't belong to anything we could find. Is there something wrong?" Chip showed concern at his boss's odd stare, his gaze never leaving the sheet.

"I… I have to go." Ron said quickly, sprinting over to the elevator.

Chip, curious as to what was going on, wheeled over to the elevator beside. He first waited to see what floor Ron would stop at before getting in and going up to the same. He reached the 14th floor and traveled down the hallway until hearing Ron's voice again. He was talking to someone. Chip reached the room his boss was in and peered through the cracked open door. Ron seemed too distracted to notice. He was on the phone with someone.

"That's right, Ron Witwicky… Witwicky, W, I, T, W, I, C, K, Y… yes, I have the access code… Lazarus…"

Chip gulped as he watched. He pondered the meaning of the word 'Lazarus'.

"Hello? General Hallo?... Yes, it's been a while. Listen… it's happened… that's right… I don't know, but it definitely had that mark you showed me… Just three that I know of for sure. Two of them work for me…"

Chip began to get nervous. He wanted to leave and at the same time, he wanted to stay and try and figure out what was going on.

"Alright, General. I'll see you there."

As Ron hung up the phone and turned to leave, Chip tried to get away in time. But his boss was in such a hurry, that he opened the door and tripped over the wheelchair on the way out. "Chip, what the hell?" he exclaimed as he fell.

"Uh, sorry," Chip sighed, feeling bad for eavesdropping. "But I really wanted to know what's going on. I mean this is all so mysterious. A weird symbol from space, government involvement."

Ron staggered to his feet and helped Chip up as he sighed. "Well, I guess you have a right to know, seeing as how you found this. But right now I don't really have time to explain. I have to meet somebody."

"General Hallo, huh? I can't say I've heard of him before now. Ron, just what is this about?"

Ron turned his back before answering. "I'm not sure. All I know is that my grandfather was involved with it somehow."


	2. Commitments

Transformers: Prometheus

Chapter 2: Commitments

Ron Witwicky sat in the old diner, fidgeting in his chair with nervousness. A middle aged skeleton of a waitress came over asking if he wanted more coffee. He simply answered with a smile and a nod as she poured him more of the tepid pick-me-up. After a while the door opened and a refined looking man in a long green coat entered. He looked to be in his fifties, a few years older than Ron, and quite out of place in the rustic setting. His eyes scanned over the small crowd of patrons until he spotted Ron sitting in a booth by the window. He smiled as he walked over to greet him.

"It's been a long time, Witwicky," he said as he sat down across from him.

"No offense, General, but I'd was hoping not to have to see you again."

"Of course. But circumstances don't permit us that luxury. After all, you made a promise all those years ago... Do you have it?"

"Y-yeah…" Ron stuttered as he pulled out a pair of photos; the picture of the strange metal object that his employee, Chip Chase, had taken, and the enhanced image of the strange symbol.

General Hallo eyed the two photos for a moment before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a picture of his own. His was a close up image of that same symbol emblazoned upon a plate of gold. "To think, it's been over fifty years since we found them, and now finally…"

Ron became nervous at his own lack of understanding of the situation. "General, please, tell me what's going on. How was my Grandfather in all this?"

"Of course, General Archibald Witwicky. My predecessor."

"General?" Ron chuckled. "My grandfather wasn't a General. He was a sea captan. He-"

Hallo cut off his explanation before he could finish. "He was the one who discovered the five titans, and thus, was put in charge of Project Lazarus. Just like I am now."

"Lazarus…? Titans…? What are you talking about?"

"As I said, your grandfather made a discovery. He was in charge of it, and when he became too old and sick to take care of it, I took his place at a very young age. I've been watching over them for years."

"Watching over who? What?"

"Ron, who else knows about this?"

"Two of my workers, I told you that over the phone."

"Names, Ron, I need names. You know that."

"Look, do we really have to get them involved?"

"They're already involved. Now… are you going to tell me?"

Ron sat silent. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head.

"Say, Ron? How's Judy?"

"What?"

"Sam just turned sixteen, didn't he?"

"Hallo, you leave my family out of this."

The general smirked and spoke in a smug tone. "You know, Ron, I can make things very difficult for them."

The enraged family man immediately reached over the table and grabbed the well dressed general by the shirt. The few other patrons in the tiny diner immediately turned to look.

"Now now, my friend. Let's not make a scene."

Ron then calmed down and fell back into his seat.

"Now…" the general repeated. "The names."

On Cybertron, the Autobots marveled at their own creation. The ship that would take them to new worlds and possibilities. The Ark.

"Not too bad if I do say so myself," Wheeljack said confidently.

"Good work, men," Optimus said pleased. "We have to get ready to take off immediately." Just as soon as he was able to speak those words, the shriek of jet engines could be heard approaching in the distance.

One of Optimus Prime's men, Prowl, immediately piped up. "Decepticons! The Seekers are on their way!"

Optimus Prime's commanding instinct kicked in has he started yelling orders to his troops. "Wheeljack, Ratchet, Jazz. You three get the Ark ready for take off! Ironhide, you take Trailbreaker, Hound, and Mirage and man the Ark's defense systems. I want any Decepticons coming within range to be shot down! Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bluestreak and Prowl will stay out here with me, ready to jump onboard when the ship is ready. Bumblebee, take the Mini-Bots inside. I'm counting on you and Huffer to repair any damage the ship may take!"

"Prime!" Ironhide yelled, "They're here."

As three Cybertronian jets came into view, the Autobots all sprung to their assigned positions. The jet in front was none other than Starscream, the egotistical aerospace commander with the warriors, Skywarp and Thundercracker.

"Disable the ship!" Starscream yelled as he fired a set of cluster bombs at the back end of the Ark.

"Let's see you deal with this, laughing boy," Ironhide sneered as he targeted Starscream's left wing with one of the Ark's top mounted cannons.

"You can't take all of us!" Optimus Prime yelled as he and his comrades fired an upward rain of laser fire on the three jets.

Starscream nimbly dodged a large beam from the Ark, causing Ironhide to curse in frustration. Finally, the back engines began to fire up, but as they did, the sneaky Decepticon, Skywarp, flew up from behind and fired a heat seeking missile into the ship's engine, causing considerable damage. The engine then flared for a moment and burned out.

"We've done it!" Starscream laughed with confidence.

Without saying a word, Prowl took aim at Starscream with his blaster, waited a second, and fired a missile damaging the cocky Decepticon's wing. The two other jets immediately transformed into their robotic forms and, using their foot mounted jet boosters to stay airborne, caught their injured air commander.

"The deed is done!" Starscream snickered as he transformed to robot mode. "Return to the base." The three promptly transformed again, and disappeared into the horizon.

Optimus Prime sighed at the apparent damage. "Come on, Autobots. We don't have any time to waste," he muttered as he walked onto the shuttle with his soldiers behind him.

Back at the Decepticon's hidden fortress, Megatron paced back and fourth in front of the entrance to their new flagship, The Nemesis. "Where the hell is that idiot, Starscream? How long as it been?"

As if on cue, the three Decepticon Seekers than entered the hangar. "Starscream! Where the hell have you been?"

Starscream smirked with confidence. "Stopping the Autobots from getting the jump on us. You weren't about to."

Megatron sneered and stamped towards his smug subordinate. "You idiot!" he screamed, picking Starscream up by the neck. "We should have left megacycles ago! Thanks to your rashness, we have lost our advantage!"

"Bu-but…" Starscream struggled to speak. "I disabled their engines. They can't take off like-"

"Silence!" Megatron yelled, cutting him off. "It took you longer to get there and back than it will take them to repair their engine!" He then swiftly flicked Starscream to the ground with a yell. "Now, get on the ship before you fuck something else up!"

Starscream struggled to his feet with the aid of his two aerial companions. "C'mon, big mouth," Skywarp said as he and Thundercracker drug Starscream onto the Nemesis.

As they walked by Megatron, he grabbed Skywarp by the arm. "From now on, you two are only to follow orders from Starscream in the midst of a battle. Outside of that, all of his commands need my approval. Understand?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Skywarp nodded.

A short blue Decepticon was waiting onboard the ship. "You sure managed to get on Megatron's nerves this time, Starscream," he chucked.

Starscream merely stared at the tiny little robot before uttering "Shut up, Frenzy."

Back at the site of The Ark, the Autobots were working hard to get everything working. "Bah," Huffer groaned, "as if things weren't bad enough before…"

"As much as I hate to say this," Wheeljack admitted, "I agree with Huffer. This launch was sketchy before we had our engines blown out."

"Never mind that. Can it be fixed? Will this ship fly?"

"Well…" Wheeljack said eyeing the circuitry, "Maybe… lets see… if I can…" Wheeljack mumbled and tinkered for a few minutes before finally, all The Ark's systems powered up. "And there we have it!"

"Allright, Autobots," Optimus commanded, "The Decepticons already have the jump on us by a couple megacycles, so we have to hurry. Have you all scanned in your alternate forms?"

The various troops replied with nods and the like.

"Alright, Autobots. It's time to take off. Our next stop; Planet Earth!"


End file.
